Genesis 15:1-21
1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burninga lamp that passed between those pieces.
18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
This is the account of the fourth direct appearance of Jehovah to Abram and evidently it had direct connection with what had immediately preceded. Abram had passed through two conflicts, the first with kings, the second with the suggestion of enrichment from the treasury of Sodom. In both he had been victorious. Now the divine voice declared, first, "I am thy shield," reminding him of how his victory over the kings had been obtained; while the second word, "I am... thy exceeding great reward" reminded him that he had lost nothing in refusing the reward offered by the king of Sodom.
In response to this word of God Abram's faith moved to a higher level. He was able to speak to God of the temptation to doubt which was in his heart. He was at once answered with the divine promise of an heir and was commanded to look at the stars to find the measure of the issue, "if thou be able to number them." Abram could not, but God could. So was his seed to be. Looking at the stars, he would know there was order where he could not discover it, number where he could not follow it; purpose where he could not trace it. He believed very literally; he built on God and God counted it to him for righteousness.
Jehovah now repeated the promise that he should inherit the land and in response to Abram's request gave him a sign. It was given in connection with sacrifice. In a horror of great darkness Abram received the revelation of trouble that lay ahead of his people and of an issue out of it. This, by the significant vision of a smoking furnace and a lamp. Abram's request for a sign was the request of faith. Therefore it was granted. When unbelief requests a sign, it is refused.